1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an improved method for repairing wall structures and more specifically to a method for repairing damaged portions of wallboard.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern day building construction, interior walls and partitions are often constructed of wallboard panels, which are generally referred to as drywall, gypsumboard, plasterboard, or Sheetrock.RTM.. Essentially, these panels are made of a hardened plaster-like gypsum material which is sandwiched between sheets of paper or paperboard.
In a typical building construction process, wooden studs are assembled to form a frame that outlines the dimensions of a room. Wallboard panels are then nailed or screwed to the studs to form a substantially flat wall or ceiling surface. Any indentations in the wallboard panels, such as those formed by driving nails into the wallboard, are filled in with drywall compound, a mud-like material, and the drywall compound is smoothed out with a flat-bladed tool such as a trowel or scraper. Additionally, the slight gaps at the junction lines between adjoining wallboard panels are typically taped over and drywall compound is applied over the tape. The drywall compound is then allowed to dry and harden. Optionally, the hardened drywall compound may be sanded to a smoother finish. Usually, a texture material is then applied to the entire wallboard surface to hide any other imperfections, and the entire surface is painted after the texture material has dried.
While the use of wallboard panels in building construction provides numerous advantages including ease of installation and relatively low cost, the use of these panels does present certain disadvantages. Namely, wallboard material is easily damaged by a blow applied to a portion of the surface. For example, the impact caused by a protruding door knob on a swinging door has been known to create an unsightly indentation in wallboard. In addition, it is not uncommon for wallboard to damaged when contacted by furniture being moved around a room.
Because damage to wallboard surfaces commonly occurs, various methods have been proposed for repairing the damaged portions of wallboard. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,407 discloses a method for repairing holes in drywall that involves placing a template around the damaged portion of the drywall, inserting a saw into a guide in the template, moving the saw along the length of the guide to circumscribe a cutout in the drywall, removing the cutout from the drywall, and replacing the cutout with a repair plug formed of drywall. A similar technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,861 which is directed to a drywall repair method wherein a repair plug is inserted into a cutout area in damaged drywall. While this type of drywall repair method should yield satisfactory results, it has the disadvantage of including the cumbersome step of preparing a repair plug that closely matches the cutout formed in the drywall.
It has also been suggested that damaged portions of drywall can be repaired by covering the damaged areas with a thin patch of material and applying a layer of drywall compound over the patch. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,122,222 and 4,135,017 illustrate methods using this technique. These methods are quite effective and require very little specialized equipment. However, unskilled individuals using these methods may produce a repaired surface having a noticeable elevated surface portion. Therefore, it is believed that further improvements can be made in this type of drywall repair method so that the repaired drywall surface more closely resembles the original surface of the drywall.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method for repairing damaged portions of wallboard that will provide a repaired wallboard surface having the appearance and surface contours of the original surface of the wall.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method for repairing damaged portions of wallboard such as drywall, gypsumboard, plasterboard, or the like.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved method for repairing damaged wallboard that provides a smooth transition between the wall surface and that of the wall repair compound used to complete the repair.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method for repairing damaged wallboard such that the repaired surface conforms virtually perfectly with the surrounding wallboard surface.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method for repairing damaged wallboard wherein the location of a wallboard repair patch used in the repair method is not noticeable.